Poland pledges support for belarusan opposition

The minister hosted former political prisoner Andrei Sannikau and his wife, the journalist Iryna Khalip, during a closed meeting at the foreign office.

According to a statement released by the ministry, besides assurances “of Poland's support for the democratic cause in Belarus,” Sikorski stressed that the newly established European Endowment for Democracy (EED) “will prove an effective tool for supporting Belarusan civil society.”

The EED is an EU initiative that was proposed by Sikorski in January 2011. Its principal task is to provide material and ideological support to pro-democracy activists and organisations outside the EU, ranging from NGOs to independent media outlets and even lone bloggers.

Its executive director is Deputy Foreign Minister Jerzy Pomianouski, and for the immediate future, the organisation's activities will focus on members of the Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), a separate EU Polish-led initiative aimed at improving political and economic ties with the aforementioned countries.

Andrei Sannikau, who served as a deputy foreign minister of Belarus from 1995-1996 but resigned from his post, currently lives in the UK after being granted asylum by British authorities. He had been charged with “organising a mass riot” during the 2010 presidential elections that saw Belarusan leader Aliaksandr Lukashenka re-elected in December of that year.

Originally given a 5-year sentence in a penal colony, he was released early in April 2012.

Irina Khalip still lives and works as a journalist in Belarus for Russian paper Novaya Gazeta. She was given a two-year suspended sentence for taking part in the December 2010 protests.

Originally forbidden from leaving Minsk, she was given leave to visit her husband and must return to Belarus by 2 April.